ABU DHABI: Top seeds Sofia Kenin and Elina Svitolina both had to save match points to make the quarter-finals of the season-opening Abu Dhabi WTA tournament on Sunday.

Australian Open champion Kenin defeated 13th-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

Kenin, who saved one match point in the 12th game of the second set, will face ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece for a semi-final spot.

Sakkari defeated fifth-seeded Garbine Muguruza, the former Wimbledon and Roland Garros winner, 7-5, 6-4.

Ukraine second seed Svitolina came from 3-5 down in the final set and saved two match points during the final-set tiebreak to beat 17th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, 6-2, 6-7 (7/5), 7-6 (10/8).

Alexandrova fired 40 winners although they were outweighed by 57 unforced errors.

Svitolina will next face another Russian, Veronika Kudermetova who saw off Spain's Paula Badosa 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Monday's other quarter-finals see fourth seed Aryna Sabalenka face Elena Rybakina, the sixth seed, and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine tackle fellow unseeded player Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.